Nissan’s European Technical Centre-led consortium’s autonomous vehicle project is set to attempt a 200-mile complex journey in the UK without driver input.

The HumanDrive’ project vehicle will travel through various unique driving scenarios, including country roads, high-speed roundabouts, A-roads and motorways in live traffic and under different environmental conditions.

To carry out the task, the project will leverage on the expertise of several entities including Hitachi and Transport Systems Catapult.

Others partners in this project include Cranfield University, University of Leeds, Highways England, HORIBA MIRA, Atkins, Aimsun and SBD Automotive.

The UK Secretary of Business and Energy Greg Clark said: “Through our industrial strategy and the automotive sector deal investment in the development of driverless technology we are committed to working with the industry to seize these opportunities.

“We’ve only just scratched the surface in terms of the capability of machine learning and AI in driving.”

“Trailblazing projects like the HumanDrive project will play a vital role helping us deliver on that ambition, with UK businesses and research institutions working with partners from around the world on the disruptive technologies and services of the future.”

HumanDrive is jointly funded by the government and industry.

Transport Systems Catapult chief technology officer Mark Westwood said: “This pioneering project will considerably enhance the experience of drivers who use future autonomous vehicles.

“We’ve only just scratched the surface in terms of the capability of machine learning and AI in driving.”

An artificial driver model (controlling perception and decision making) will be developed using the latest artificial intelligence technologies and will drive the vehicle.

Before being introduced to the UK roads, the system will undergo rigorous testing using a range of facilities, including simulation, hardware in the loop, and private test track.